For a number of years, sport fishing has enjoyed a tremendous popularity and has grown to the extent that it is now one of the largest participant sports in terms of the number of participants. Along with the growth in popularity has come a great interest in competitive fishing events, with still greater participation. As the sport of fishing has increased in popularity, the fishing tackle industry has experienced phenomenal growth, responding both to the needs of casual participants as well as professional competitive fishermen.
As a result, the fishing tackle industry has made tremendous advances in the equipment available to the modern angler in all areas, including the boating equipment, hand held equipment such as rods and reels, fishing lines, and terminal tackle such as the lures, hooks, baits, etc., all for the purpose of improving the catch of the angler.
In the area of terminal tackle, fishing lures have been the subject of much improvement with new finishes on the lures, new types of hooks, new lure designs, and the like. Still, one of the most popular and most versatile lures available has had little in the way of improvement. The lure known as a "spinnerbait" has remained relatively unchanged for some time. The lack of change in this lure is largely because of its proven fish catching ability in all types of water which might be encountered by the professional or amateur angler.
A "spinnerbait" is a lure which combines both a "spinner" and some other type of fish attractor, along with a weight and a hook into a weedless form. The lure has a generally V-shaped wire form, and at one end of the wire form is attached one or more blades or "spinners" which rotate about a swivel as the lure is drawn through the water.
At the other end of the wire form, a lead body or weight is molded, and a hook is attached adjacent the weight. The hook is turned upwardly toward the other end of the wire form, and the fishing line is secured to the wire at the apex of the V of the wire form. Some type of device is attached to the area of the hook shank to further attract fish, most commonly being a soft plastic worm or grub or piece of pork rind, or alternatively a plastic or rubber skirt which extends rearwardly to hide the hook and "ripple" through the water as the lure is retrieved. Such skirts are most popular and generally comprise a multiplicity of plastic or rubber filaments secured about the weight portion of the lure. Such skirts are often of a single color, but some such skirts are formed from mixed strands or filaments of different color, i.e. chartreuse strands, yellow strands, white strands, etc.
By this construction, the hook is protected from snagging onto underwater obstacles such as brush, grass, rocks or the like by the upper arm of the wire form, yet the action of the spinner(s) coupled with the action of the worm, grub, skirt or similar attractor entice the fish to strike at the bait.
The attraction of the fish to this type of lure is largely a function of the vibration and flash of the spinner blades. Also, the nature of the other fish attractor, or "trailer" which is attached to the hook bears a significant role in the ability of the lure to attract fish.
One drawback of such lures, however, has been the limitations encountered by the composite structure in the area of the wire form. On one hand, the wire must not be so stiff as to prevent the vibration of the lure caused by the spinner blades. But on the other hand, the wire must not be so flexible that it will be bent, and thereby rendered useless, when a fish is caught. These two antagonistic points have always resulted in a compromise in such baits, usually being a result of the choice of the manufacturer in order to satisfy both requirements within the realm of reasonableness.
Yet, in the area of sport fishing, and particularly in the area of competitive sport fishing, the compromise is often not adequate, and seemingly small differences can bring about significantly greater results.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved artificial fishing lure of the spinnerbait type.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved artificial fishing lure which enables a significantly improved vibration without sacrificing strength in the area of the hook.
A further object of this invention is to provide an artificial fishing lure having great strength in the portion of the lure where strength is required, but significant flexibility in the portion of the lure in which the vibration is generated.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent when considered in light of the following description and claims when taken together with the accompanying drawing.